A New Heart
by NicktheDragon
Summary: Reunion fic. Set after Martha, before Donna. Rose finds a way back to her world and the Doctor, but something is different about her. How will the Doctor cope with the changes as their adventure continues? Rating starts at K, then goes up to T.
1. Chapter 1

Note: I apologize for the shortness of this chapter, but it seemed the best place to break it. The next one will be longer though I am fairly busy at the moment, so might not update frequently. Also, a warning for those of you who like quick stories, because this isn't going to be one. I'm a big fan of Farscape and I always thought that with the Doctor being the way he is it would take a while (like with John and Arynn) to get together and involve lots of awkward moments. I hope you enjoy!

Chapter 1

It had been three years since she died. Three years since her frail human heart had been broken. Two years since she had gathered it back together, not healed, but working, and gotten a job. Now she stood at the edge of her creation. A machine that she had built mostly in secret in a hidden room behind her office.

Rose Tyler, defender of the Earth, was about to go home.

Let's rewind the story a bit, start at the beginning of the end. He had dumped her on this alien world, possibly more alien than any she had ever visited. Sure, she had her mum and a dad and Mickey, but he was gone. Her Doctor. He said that they would never, ever be able to see each other again. Of course, he had been wrong before. For the first year of her new life, she wept. At night she would lay in bed, trying to imagine the happy thrum of the TARDIS or the clanging and buzzing of tinkering from down the hall. She couldn't go outside, because she would find herself always looking around every corner, straining her ears for that ethereal sound. Her parents and friends worried. The one thing that managed to make her look up, stand straight, and smile, was the first time she held her little brother. Jackie was overjoyed to see Rose smile again, as she gently coddled the delicate infant.

A year after the incident at Canary Wharf, Rose was sitting at the table having breakfast with her parents and brother.

"I think I'll get a job," She stated over her cereal.

Jackie and Pete looked up, Tony cooed.

"There's an opening at that shop down in the village, sweetheart, you can go there." Jackie spoke softly.

"You know," her dad piped up, "I could always find a spot for you at Torchwood. Your expertise would be greatly valued..."

"Pete!" Her mother hissed.

"No, no, it's o.k mum," Rose responded, "I... I think I can do some good there yah know. Keep going, like w-I used to." She had to catch herself from saying 'we' as it immediately brought up images of brown eyes and messy hair.

"You sure?" her mom asked, worry evident on her face. Rose hadn't been very good at hiding what she was originally going to say.

"Yes mum, I'm sure. I can start tomorrow."

"O.k..." her father said, and the room resumed a peaceful, if slightly sad, silence.

As soon as she walked into work on her first day, she was greeted enthusiastically by her new teammates. Mickey was in charge of field operations, Jake was second in command, Jennifer knew everything about computers, and Asia was the doctor. Pete was, of course, head of command, but that meant that they would hardly ever see him as he was nearly always busy thinking up cover stories and keeping the government happy.

Mickey had the strict rule to dress casually, but be ready for anything. So most of the group had on jeans and shoes that they could run in if they had to. Rose liked them immediately. She was appointed the expert on aliens, and had gained instant respect from her teammates. Maybe they saw the pain and strength in her gaze. Who knows. Either way she sort of became in charge of the team after a few months.

"Rose! Rose!" Jennifer rushed in through the open doors in Rose's office. Rose had been sitting at her desk, going over some files on the sycorax ship they had chased off last week. She set them down neatly and turned to face the kind woman in front of her.

"Yes Jennifer, what is it?"

"I found that book that you requested." She handed rose a package wrapped in brown paper.

Rose's face lit up and she beamed at her friend, "Thank you so much! I wonder what I would ever do without you."

As she took the book, Jennifer looked a little sheepish and asked, "If you don't mind, what exactly are you planning to do with it? I took the liberty of scanning through the first couple of pages, but it's way too complicated for me to understand. And no offence, but last time you tried to fix a computer you accidentally wiped half the memory."

Rose cringed inwardly at the memory of that little mishap, but remained outwardly calm and just gave her colleague a small smile. The one that meant that it had to do with her past and she didn't want to tell. Everyone was quite familiar with that particular look, especially recently when Rose started requesting for strange equipment and lots and lots of books on everything from basic mathematics to crazy transdimentional machine theories.

Jennifer sighed and left Rose to her books. Rose waited until Jennifer had walked down the hallway to her own office before getting up and closing the door. There was work to be done.

Ever since she was touched by that alien during her third day on the job, Rose had been able to remember everything that she heard or read. At first it was quite a shock. She had just finished reading a book that her mother had bought at a clearance sale at a bookstore, when her mother had asked about a certain scene. Rose was a little surprised at herself when she could remember the exact wording of the scene, and got a little freaked when she realized that she could also remember all the scenes before and after that one in complete detail, including a small typo on the 147th page. Of course the first thing she did was head over to the Torchwood med bay and have Asia do a full examination. Asia was confused at Rose's insistence of an exam, but went through with it and found nothing out of the ordinary, besides a small increase in brain activity. She brushed this off to the stress and worry of the job.

Everyone on the team had been trained in basic psychic protection to stop any thoughts floating free in front of telepathic aliens. Rose played around with the barriers she had put up and found that she could make them a lot stronger than ever before. Then she managed to recall something the alien had said to her. It had told her that she would be so much more. When the alien had first said it to her, she had brushed it off as meaning that she could be so much more, but now she wasn't so sure. The alien's touch had felt weird, and now that she thinks about it harder, maybe the beautiful creature had been inside her mind a little as well. It was an odd feeling.

Rose shook her head from the memory and opened the book. She had quite a bit of reading to do.

Standing outwardly relaxed and inwardly nervous, she surveyed the complex car-sized machine in front of her. The machine that would, supposedly, allow her to hop from this world to a parallel one, and not just any parallel world, but the one she grew up in. The one that her home was in. The one with her Doctor. A note in her handwriting sat outside the room on her desk. It didn't say much, but included goodbyes to her friends and family and a short explanation to where she hoped she would be. The machine whirred to life as the fit young woman shimmied into the harness that was connected to it by a thin electrical chord. It was biologically activated to her unique DNA signature to make sure no one else could happen upon it and use it, it was a one way trip after all.

Rose put on her backpack, filled with everything she would need for survival in a place where she was dead, took a deep breath, and hit the bright yellow button on the chest of the harness. She crackled with blue and gold energy, then everything went black.


	2. Chapter 2

Note: I forgot to mention this in the first chapter, but if you find any grammatical errors or misspellings, please tell me! I will not be offended in any way as writing this story is practice. I do not posses a beta, so have to self edit, which is unreliable because of how our brains like to fill in the gaps subconsciously. I will be very grateful to anyone who helps me become a better writer.

Chapter 2

Somewhere in London, in a little back alley that no one notices, the air was filled with a static charge and the sound of electricity crackling. There was a flash of light, then only the nighttime city noises could be heard.

Rose scrunched up her nose at the smell of stale urine, booze, and car fumes. It smelled like her Earth all right. She took a moment to look around. It was a dark alley, there against a back door of some building, was a man in rumpled clothes snoring quietly, a near-empty bottle of liquor clutched in his left hand. Overflowed garbage cans and cigarette butts littered the place and old chewing gum stained the worn cement. She heard a siren in the distance. A plane flew over. She laughed when she heard the latter, a sound that she hadn't heard in four years. It worked. It really worked.

"Yes!" She yelled to the sky, "Yes!" Warm, happy tears flowed down her cheeks. She wiped them away and grinned at the old man who was oblivious to her outcry of joy and her accomplishment of the impossible. She was Rose Tyler, and she was going home!

The indescribably proud woman removed the harness, whose electrical chord hung cut and useless flapping against her leg, and shuffled in her backpack for a pad of paper, a pencil, and a small wad of cash. She walked to the homeless man, wrote a request that he use the money for food on a piece of paper, folded it around ten quid, and placed it in his lap where he was sure to find it when he woke. Then she stood and headed towards the street and the nearest hotel, who knows how long it would take the Doctor to get there and she wanted to be comfortable.

Once she was situated in a fairly nice hotel a couple of blocks from her appearance and in possession of that day's newspaper, Rose pulled out her old cell phone. She had kept it for just this instance because of its jiggery-pokered state and the fact that it still had the TARDIS's number in it. Holding her breath, she hit the dial button, and waited.

And waited.

The Doctor puttered around the controls of his magnificent time machine, eyebrows drawn together, musing over the happenings of his last adventure. The year that never was. Martha leaving him. Jack's not-so-new predicament and its implications. How much he still missed Rose. His frustration of the Daleks still being around. How much he loves the TARDIS. Rose. The Face of Boe and his demise. Rose. Martha and how well she handled being alone for a year. How Rose always knew the right question. Her smile when she figured it out. Rose's hand clasped in his. Rose's room. Rose's hair. Rose's smell. Rose, Rose, Rose.

A lone tear tickled a salty path down his face. Oh how he missed Rose. No matter the distractions he makes for himself, his mind always wanders back to her. Not that he would admit it to himself, but he thought of her constantly, in a little corner of his mind that wasn't really that little, he always thought about her.

He nearly jumped out of his skin when the phone rang.

"What?"

That phone almost never rang. And yet there it went again, ringing. In an instant, his mind thought up several scenarios where it might be ringing. Martha had decided she wanted to travel with him after all, or there was trouble, Or it was Jack calling about trouble, or someone had managed to call the wrong number and was going to find they had one hell of a phone bill later, as the TARDIS was currently situated in the time vortex.

The Doctor lurched to the other side of the time rotor and gingerly picked up the phone.

"Hello?"

"Doctor!" Rose nearly choked with relief at the sound of his voice. She was afraid that he wouldn't pick up or that it might be a different Doctor altogether. Then she realized that it might be a Doctor from before she left and decided to tread carefully, though she couldn't remember ever having her Doctor pick up the phone while she traveled with him, but there was always the time when she slept.

"Rose?" He sputtered out, grabbing the edge of the console as his mind reeled in confusion.

"Yeah..." Her voice came through, more hesitant than last time, "Am I... you know, with you?"

The Doctor was even more confused by the question. Then it hit him, she was probably from a time before she was trapped in a parallel world. "Wait Rose," Oh how her name felt good on his tongue, "What was the last trip we went on?"

"We went to see my mum..." She paused, wondering what she could say if it was a Doctor from her past.

He held his breath, not daring to hope, but wanting to so badly.

"… and there were ghosts." She said.

"Oh Rose." His voice wavered in a half sob. She was fantastic. He had no idea how she did it but she was here.

"Yes?" She had heard the tone in his voice and her own came out a wrenching sob of joy.

"Where are you?" His voice reclaimed its fervor as he bounced on the balls of his feet itching to drop the phone and rush to the girl he hadn't seen in so long.

"On the corner of fifth avenue and Bork street, in the hotel, room thirty-three, July eighteenth, two thousand eight, eleven thirty-four at night, London." She laughed her coordinates in time and space, something she hadn't been able to do in a long time.

"I'll be there in five minutes." The Doctor grinned into the phone.

"With your driving, I'll expect five and a half hours." Rose grinned, poking her tongue between her teeth. She could practically hear his manic grin on the other end of the line in response to the old joke.

"Oi! Don't be cheeky!" He scoffed, then lowered his voice, "See you soon Rose." And hung up to jump excitedly around the console, flipping switches, pulling levers, and twisting knobs. He swore that the TARDIS hummed with a bit of excitement as well, she always did like Rose. His face might have split in two he grinned so wide. It was the best feeling in the world.

Rose was back and she was coming home.

Rose laughed and cried with joy, clutching the small phone to her chest. It had been her Doctor and he was coming for her! She calmed herself enough to realize that she was a bit of a mess. Hair going every which way, puffy eyes from the tears, and the faint smell of alley and electricity sticking to her clothes. She was about to get up and head to the hotel bathroom when the most beautiful sound in the world filled her ears and the small room. Eyes as wide as they could go and a grin starting to bloom, Rose turned to see a blue police box materialize in the corner, the door opened.

He was so excited to see her again, it was a lucky thing that the TARDIS wanted to see Rose almost as badly as he because if anyone could read Gallifreyan, or knew how to fly the living ship, they would have noticed that the Doctor did in fact accidentally set the coordinates to a week after Rose had called. The kind ship had corrected his small mistake, something she normally would not have done, but she was probably not looking forward to any abuse the Doctor would give her for not landing when he thought he had set it to.

As soon as the ship was fully corporeal, the Doctor rushed out the doors to meet face to face with the person who saved him from himself on nearly countless occasions. He stopped in his tracks as soon as he laid eyes on her. She had changed. Her hair was now a darker dirty-blond color, he assumed it was her natural color as she also wore no makeup. The leather jacket and black pants with a strip of dark pink shirt poking out was the outfit he remembered seeing the last time they spoke. She didn't look much older, maybe a year or two he'd guess, but enough to put small wrinkles by her eyes and age within them. She was beautiful, and as he stood there, unable to breathe, she smiled and started towards him. Just as his respiratory bypass system activated, he was engulfed in a huge bear hug and managing to respond in kind. He breathed in her scent, a bit different now, different shampoo, no bleach, a bit of back alley, but under all that was still just Rose. Her body molded into his as he lifted her off her feet, laughing and spinning her around as she laughed with him. She hardly took notice of the unusual blue suit and red shoes.

When he finally put her down, he didn't let go as she had been expecting, but hung on tight. Enjoying the feel of her warm body pressed against his, never wanting to let go but knowing that he must.

"Doctor, can't breathe." Rose chuckled, breath ghosting over his ear. It took a bit of concentration to not shiver at the sensation.

"Right," He let go, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly, "Sorry."

She gave him another grin, "Oh, I've missed you."

"Me too." He returned the grin. "How... how long were you, you know...?"

"Just a few minutes since we talked on the phone."

"No, I meant in-"

"Oh," A small laugh, "Four years, almost to the day."

"Oh." He couldn't meet her eyes. She had been trying to get back for that long, and he hadn't even looked much further into it. Wait, how did she get back anyhow? He suddenly remembered why it was impossible to see her again, worry and confusion filled his thoughts.

"And you then?"

"Hm?" He nearly missed hearing the question, working on the problem of how she did it. "Ah, yes! About a year. Listen, how did you get through the void? The universes should have collapsed, we should all be dead."

"Oh, it wasn't too hard, just took me a while to figure it out. Turns out there was this bloke in the other world, a lot like Einstein, and he thought up this idea for a transdimentional machine yeah? Except he didn't have any of the materials to make it, and had some of the math wrong too mind you, but I fixed it. Turns out that our Torchwood had most of the materials needed, certainly the power, and I was able to acquire some things from aliens we met that fit the criteria of materials that good old Samson thought up but didn't exist on Earth in sufficient quantities. So I built his machine to get here, though it took me three years to do it, and it popped me through a tiny hole in the wall of that world, through the void, and out through into this one, and as soon as I got through, the machine closed the rifts. Not a trace of them left. Though now that I think about it, you might be able to still detect it from a whiff of iron and the hair on the back of your hand standing up. Just like in the two thousand twelve Olympics with that girl, Chloe, and that little space flower, what was it again?" Rose lowered her eyebrows in thought, she could remember everything she hears and reads now, but stuff from before then is still hit or miss like any other human.

"Isolus." He responds automatically, "Wait, what? You built a transdimentional hopper? How's that possible?" He reels as the force of all that spewed information hits him. Rose couldn't possibly have known the physics and math involved in building anything like that, much less improving on an idea of one. His first thought was of another alien take-over of Rose's body and whisked out his sonic screwdriver to scan her.

"Hey!" She swatted at the roving screwdriver, "I just did o.k.? My brain's been... a bit different since an incident with a friendly alien, but I'm fine! Really. I'll explain what I know later, but right now I could do with a shower, change of clothes, and some good hot tea yeah?

"Right." He nodded his head and moved aside to let Rose into the TARDIS. His smile slowly returned as he watched her enter the beautiful time ship. She slowed as she reached the top of the ramp, gliding her hands over the struts and the edge of the console. Her fingers lightly caressing the buttons and switches she remembered using so long ago, gazing at the softly glowing green time rotor. The TARDIS changed from her usual background thrum into one that meant she was in a much better mood. Rose smiled at the ship, remembering that sound. The Doctor felt a boost of pride, Rose could remember the sounds of his ship so well, many never figured it out. She gently stroked the time rotor.

"Hello old girl." Rose greeted the living ship, grinning as she thrummed a happy reply into Rose's head.

The Doctor watched this, assuming that Rose's grin was because she still felt a bit silly talking to a ship that could only convey a general mood through hums to her human occupants. Even he could only get slightly more complex feelings through his telepathic connection with the marvelous machine.

Rose glanced in the direction of the hallway, then turned to the Doctor, "Um...?"

"It's still there." The Doctor assured her with another nod, "Your room." He clarified.

Another grin bloomed across her face as she lightly jogged down the hallway. Straight down, first right, down the stairs, to the left, third door on the right. It was right where she expected it to be. A gasp escaped her and she covered her mouth as she opened the door. It was exactly how she left it. The bed with pink sheets was half made, there was a pile of dirty clothes on the floor right next to a pile of clean ones, her old purple t-shirt lay across the foot of her bed. Even the few photos she had managed to get over the two years were next to the bed, right where she had them. Her and this Doctor, her and Jack, her and Mickey. There wasn't even a speck of dust anywhere, the TARDIS must have been keeping it nice and clean for her. The door to her bathroom was ajar, and as she walked through she could see that it hadn't changed either. It might even be a bit cleaner than she left it. Her shampoos and other hair and makeup products were all still strewn about and a nice fresh and clean towel hung by the shower ready to be used. It was her favorite purple fuzzy one. She smiled at the walls as she slipped out of her clothes and into the shower, sighing out loud in contentment as a burst of hot water gushed over her skin. The TARDIS always had the water at just the right temperature. She took only a short moment to just relish it before proceeding to scrub off all the dirt of the day and the loneliness of four years.

The Doctor tried his best to ignore his need to go talk to Rose. She wanted tea and that is what she was going to get, even though he wanted so badly to just go down the hall and stand outside her door to talk with her. He wanted to hear her voice to further assure him that it was real, that she was here and not leaving, not disappearing. His feet made a beeline for her door, then stopped. No, she wanted some alone time. The red converse moved back a few steps toward the kitchen. But maybe he was just hallucinating, he needed to check to make sure she was still there. The door to her room was now in front of him, about four feet away. He really shouldn't. What if she get's mad? He's invaded her privacy before. A hand was reached out, ready to knock. But that was before she lived for four years without him. He could hear the shower going, definitely not hallucinating. He so wanted to see her again, smell her shampoo, see her smile. The sound of water stopped. Right. Tea would make her happy, make her smile. Tea it was. The Doctor shook his head to clear his thoughts and padded softly down the hall to put on the kettle.

A little while later Rose was sitting at the kitchen table with a steaming mug of her favorite tea and wearing a baggy shirt and sweat pants. The Doctor sat nervously across from her.

He coughed uncomfortably in the silence, "Still your favorite?"

"Huh?" She had been enjoying just sitting near him again and listening to the gentle thrum of the TARDIS.

"The tea?"

"Oh, yeah," A small smile graced her lips as she gave him a quick once over. He looked a bit older somehow, a little sadder in the eyes, the usual manic grin dimmer. Then she registered the new blue suit, "What's with that then?" She tilted her head towards his attire.

"Hmm? Oh. Weelll… I though I might change things up a bit…" He avoided her gaze and rubbed the back of his neck, a sure sign of nervousness.

Rose squinted a bit, "You didn't ruin your other one, did you?"

"No, nope. Definitely not. It's still around, somewhere."

"Good, I kinda liked that suit." She gave him her Rose smile then, tongue in cheek and teasing just a bit.

The Doctor waggled his eyebrows, enjoying the old banter. "Shall I go change then?"

"Nah," She laughed now, "You can use that one for tinkering while I'm asleep."

"Oi! It's not that bad!" He grinned as well, then looked a tad disappointed when Rose got up. "Where're you off to then?"

"Bed. I'm a bit knackered. Think of someplace amazing to go to tomorrow yeah?" She set the now empty mug down and moved sleepily down the corridor to her room. The Doctor looked longingly after her, wishing she wouldn't leave so soon and silently cursing the human's need for so much sleep.

He let out a sigh as he heard her door shut and got up to wander towards the console room. Maybe there were some circuits that could be rewired.

Meanwhile, Rose was getting reacquainted with her old room. She first rummaged through the pile of clothes on the floor and the closet and discovered just how much her taste in clothing had changed. She found herself snorting at the ridiculous half-ripped shirts and short skirts, and laughed when she came upon the short coverall skirt that really didn't cover much and had caused her a bit of trouble with Queen Elizabeth. She came to the conclusion that she would have to either throw most of it away or hide it somewhere in the TARDIS's vast wardrobe. It certainly wouldn't be the worst set of clothes in there.

Seating herself on the pink fluffy sheets of her bed, she thought about having to change those too. They looked so childish. The vast amount of makeup supplies would have to be cleaned up later, she decided, frowning at the top of the messy counter through the open door of the bathroom.

Then she remembered the one thing she would never change in this room.

Hopping up and tiptoeing over to the door, she pressed her ear against it. No sounds of breathing or shuffling feet. Good. The Doctor must have taken her advice and went off to tinker with something. Her secret would be safe.

She then walked over and leaned down by the side of the bed, pulling out a medium sized box with the labeling 'Rose's private stuff. Keep out. This means you, Doctor!' scrawled on the lid with black marker. She smiled sadly at the box, any hint of a smile disappearing as she lifted up the lid and surveyed the contents.

A sigh of relief escaped her lips as everything was in its place, including an inconspicuous blond hair laid carefully between two photographs of her mum and Shareen. She carefully removed all the trinkets and photos of her old life and lifted a false bottom of the box up. Under it was her most secret possession. It was her first Doctor's leather jacket.

A tear dropped as she remembered him. The first Doctor she had fallen in love with. She breathed in the smell from the box, old leather with that hint of the old him. She loved the new Doctor too, possibly more than she did the old one. But she couldn't help touching the worn out jacket every once in a while with fond memories.

At last she packed everything back in the box and slid it under the bed. Rose was feeling better, but tired. As she snuggled down between the covers, she noticed that the ship was thrumming comfort in her head, helping to lull her into a peaceful sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

Sorry for yet another short chapter, the next should be longer, I hope.

Enjoy!

Chapter 3

The Doctor bounded to Rose's door, now dressed in his brown pinstriped suit. Eight hours was plenty of sleep. He began knocking loud and fast. Rose answered on the fifteenth knock looking disheveled, but alert.

"What is it?" She asked.

His eyes widened for a moment before he regained his happy grin. He used to have to yell and barge in to get her up. He had to admit to himself that this was a bit of an improvement.

"I thought we should be off soon. There's this great planet in the Hubbler galaxy with really low gravity and trees that grow to over a thousand feet tall! Well, the tallest was one-thousand, two hundred, and eighty seven feet tall. And three inches, before they had a storm and it lost the last two feet. Real shame that. The trees have blue trunks Rose, blue! And it's all because of a very special bacteria called – "

"Is there any danger?" Rose interrupted his tangent.

"No. Well, not really. Though you wouldn't want to insult any of the natives, sort of little pterosaur-like people. Quite a sensitive lot when it comes to staring at their homes too long, take it as an insult they do."

"Sorry Doctor," Rose knew if she didn't speak when he stopped for breath that he'd go one for another few minutes, "I don't really feel like a running for our lives on an adventure today. How about Barcelona? We never did go there."

"They have dogs with no noses!" He said cheekily, earning a grin from his companion. "I suppose we can go there if you want. A bit boring though."

Rose shrugged, "I'll be out in a mo'," Then turned and closed the door to get dressed and brush her hair.

The Time Lord paced back to the consol room to fiddle with the controls. After only five minutes and twenty four seconds, Rose appeared trotting into the circular room with a smile on her face. Once again the Doctor was surprised by how much she had changed. He started to attention.

"Right then! Off to the planet Barcelona!" He spoke loudly over the sound of pulling levers.

Rose stepped up to the time rotor to join him, placing her hand on a familiar nob, "So, this one right? It's been a while for me!"

"Just a moment!" He hopped on one foot and craned his neck to see what she was doing.

Rose raised an eyebrow.

"Yes! Yeah, just a quarter turn to the right when I tell you!" He shouted before continuing on his mad dance.

Another grin came from Rose as he told her to turn it, and a good laugh as the ship rumbled and groaned to a halt.

As the ship returned to her normal hum, the two passengers paused a moment to look at each other, both thinking of how brilliant, how fantastic it was that they were traveling together again.

The Doctor was the first to move. Waggling his eyebrows and grabbing his coat, he asked, "Well, Rose Tyler, shall we have a look?"

"Me first!" She nearly squealed, racing him to the door and flinging them open.

It was a park, very much like any other park on earth. Green grass, trees, benches, kids running around a play structure. Rose paused to take it all in, to smell the air. It was a lot cleaner than her earth, no car exhaust, no cigarette smoke.

The lanky alien slowed to a stop beside her, "Not much different scenic wise I'm afraid. Rubbish sunsets too. Did you know that the beauty of sunsets on earth are partly due to the pollution you pump into the atmosphere? Bit strange that."

Rose ignored him.

"And! This place has some of the best pie in this galaxy, mind you there are better places out there, but here you can buy it right on the street." He paused to look around as Rose had grabbed his hand and started to pull him towards a small cart on the side of the path.

"I wonder what they're selling." She remarked, turning her head quickly and flashing the Doctor a smile.

He was still a bit distracted by her hand in his, reveling in the feeling. They fit just right together. Then his mind snapped back to the present, "I told you Rose, the street vendors here sell pieces of pie. You still never listen do you?"

Rose bumped shoulders with him as they stopped in front of the cart, "Nope!" She grinned and turned to the vendor, "I'll have… apple, and my friend here would like banana, please."

The man nodded and set about getting their slices wrapped. Grinning down at his companion, the Doctor's hearts swelled with pride for Rose, she still remembered his favorite flavor!

"Pay card?" The vendor asked.

"Oh! Of course, right here." The Doctor fished the psychic paper out of his suit pocket and handed it to the man, who swiped it past a small screen and handed it back. Rose grabbed the pie slices and headed towards a bench where the duo sat to eat and survey the area.

Miraculously, the Doctor was completely quiet while he ate, looking contemplatively out at the passersby. Unknown to Rose, who was sneaking glances at him every few seconds, he was deep in thought about how he should treat Rose after that incident on the beach so long ago. Mmm, the banana pie was good. Should he just continue on with where they left off before the incident? Like it never happened? Or should he throw away all the rules that he put up, all the mental blocks, all the self-control that kept him from so much pain and hearts break? The rules were safe. The rules were not fun. What if Rose wanted to forget the incident? What if she didn't? The rules were safe. Absolutely safe. He really should stick to the rules. He wishes he had some more pie. It was good. Rules are good. Yikes, what's that?

During the Doctor's silent musings, Rose had finished her tasty snack and grew a bit bored with her companion's silence, so she figured it couldn't hurt to watch for dog walkers from a slightly more comfortable position. She had laid her head down on the Doctor's shoulder.

He tensed. Then reminded himself that this was within the rules, this was something friends did, friends. Really. They used to do stuff like this all the time, just because he hadn't seen her in so long and last time he did she had confessed a more-than-friends kind of feeling for him doesn't mean that she's doing anything out of the ordinary concerning their relationship as friends. Forcing himself to relax and get his brain off how warm her cheek was against his shoulder, he began to prattle.

"So Rose. How would you like to go find a nice dog to pet huh?"

She almost jumped at his sudden, and a bit too loud if you asked her, exclamation.

"Um, I thought we could just wait here, someone's bound to come walking by with a dog eventually." She said, a bit unnerved by his outburst, she had gotten a bit unused to it after all those years.

"Oh, alright." He sounded almost disappointed, then brightened up in the blink of an eye, "Rose, have I told you how fascinating the governmental system is on this planet? It's amazing! They don't have a single governing person surrounded by slightly lower ranking people, instead they have seven top governing people, who are mainly political figureheads for the only slightly lower ranking group of 31 officials. What makes it so brilliant is that they're all scientists Rose, scientists! You see, that's why there's no pollution and a wonderful healthcare system as well as…"

Rose nodded and assigned half her mind to listen and the other half to watch the jogger passing by. As interesting as hearing about the system of government on Barcelona was, the guy wearing shorts and no shirt running by was far more distracting, he wasn't half bad looking either.

Then Rose saw a woman with a medium sized, and incredibly fluffy, dog walking towards them along the path.

"… And did you know that they can vote at the age of 16? Oh hey Rose, there's your dog for you." The Doctor ended his lecture as he too noticed the happy looking canine.

Rose turned to grin at him before getting off the bench and heading towards the dog.

"Can I pet your dog?" She asked, smiling with a bit of embarrassment.

The woman looked at her a little funny, but smiled and said she could. Rose's smile broadened as the Doctor came up and squatted next to her to pet the dog, who licked their hands profusely and rubbed it's furry-all-over snout against their arms. The Doctor watched Rose's reaction to the fluffy creature carefully, he told himself it was strictly for scientific analysis on whether he should take her to more planets with cute critters or not. He was not staring at her eyes, or her mouth, or anywhere else that was revealed a bit by her bending over to stroke the fur of the dog with her hands, running the hairs through her fingers. No. Nope. Definitely not staring.

Then Rose looked at him, she had noticed him staring.

Oh dang. She had noticed him staring. He quickly stood and thanked the lady with the dog, who went on her way. Rose stood and gave him a look, eyebrows raised.

"What?" He said, stuffing his hands in his jacket pockets.

"You were staring at me." She continued the look.

"Was not." Now he rubbed the back of his neck.

"You were too. You know I'm not disappearing right? I'm here to stay." She said, her look turning into a more serious one of concern.

A grin the size of the Grand Canyon slipped across his face. She thought he had been staring because he was afraid that she would leave. His cover was still good, he was still obeying the rules.

He reached out and pulled her into a tight hug. Bodies pressed together, he whispered in her ear, "I know." And left it at that, dropping out of the hug and taking hold of her hand instead.

She gave him another smile, "How about we explore a bit then before heading back to the TARDIS? Maybe we'll find a good place to have dinner. On you, of course."

"Of course." He grinned right back, squeezed her hand, and took off walking with his best friend.


	4. Chapter 4

I apologize for the long wait, I have been incredibly busy lately and I plan to continue to be busy. I should have done homework today instead of writing this, but that's how it is sometimes.

Again, I appreciate anyone who finds and notifies me of glitches, grammatical mistakes, or spelling errors. I don't have a beta and self editing never gets all the issues out.

Thanks a bunch for all the reviews!

Enjoy!

Chapter 4

"Doctor!" Rose shouted as soon as she came to, hanging quite inelegantly from the branch of a particularly large blue tree.

The alien in question hung in a similar fashion from a neighboring tree, seemingly out cold.

"Doctor, wake up!"

He peeked open one eye and hushed her, "Shhhh, Rose, I've got a plan. Just-"

A creature about the size of a raven, but bright red, featherless, and with a mouth full of tiny sharp teeth glided down to the branch harboring Rose, "Betta not shoutabout, or King HubDub feedsya tohis broodchicks." The alien's speech was apparently tricky for even the TARDIS to translate.

Rose sighed as she quieted down and watched the guard return to her higher perch. She silently glared at the motionless Doctor. He better get us out of this mess, she thought.

For their second trip back together again, the Doctor had gotten his way and the two of them went to the Hubbler galaxy and to the planet of HuddaBudda. It had started out nice enough.

"Here we are Rose, the planet of HuddaBudda!" With a dramatic flourish, he opened the doors of the TARDIS.

Rose was met with the sight of thousands upon thousands of bright blue trees, reaching up towards a darker blue sky. Her instinct was to grab hold of the Doctor's hand and gape upwards, which she did. They were amazing.

The Doctor grinned and looked down at her, he had waited so long to see that expression again. He realized that he wanted very much to see here eyes. He thought fast, "That's not even the best part Rose, wait until nightfall."

"What is it?" She looked at him with her big brown eyes and smiled with curiosity.

His hearts speeded up, he could feel the chemicals moving around his body but tamped them down reflexively. She was a human; he had to obey the rules. "Nah, can't tell you. It's a surprise." He winked playfully and lurched off into a steady walking pace, his hand clasped in Rose's pulling her along. She had to jog a step or two to catch up, nearly falling over in the lighter gravity.

"Please," she teased him and clung to his arm.

"No," he laughed.

They fell into another comfortable silence, following a narrow path through the dense forest. Rose took the time to really gaze at the surrounding foliage. Nowhere could she see a single tree less than two of her arm lengths across, and in between the massive trunks were a variety of shade-loving plants. There were green frondy ones, thick leaved purple ones, a few red ones that looked a bit like lettuce, and some somewhat suspicious looking yellow flower-like bulbous things coming out of the ground. She thought mushroom, but who knew?

The Doctor was thinking again, of course, but surprisingly his mind was on other things besides his brilliant companion. He too took in the sights of the empty looking trees and the quiet canopy. He remembered this place differently. Last time he had been here the trees were filled with the sounds of playing HuddaBuddians and he could have sworn that their canopy city was right in this area. Now that he really though about it, the trees looked just a bit smaller than he remembered.

Then his feet were swept right out from under him.

He jerked his head over to look at Rose, whose hand was ripped from his grasp by nets of vines that were swiftly boring the two up into the trees.

"Rose!"

"Doctor!" she struggled in her net, "I though you said these people were friendly!"

He nearly grinned, she had said 'people'. "They are, or at least will be!" He had figured it out, the vine nets were from the HuddaBuddians' past. They had landed in the mists of a hunter-gatherer world!

This was not good.

As they came to a somewhat sudden stop a couple hundred feet above the ground, a mass of flying and jumping critters surrounded the nets. One who was slightly bigger than the rest, and who wore a feathered headdress as well as carried an ornate dagger, came forward and hissed the crowd to silence. It peered at the two strange figures in the nets, then spoke.

"Whatsthis? Itsnot afruthshish, maybenotgoodeat huh?" she looked towards a group of others, each with a single green feather strapped to their heads. They looked at each other, shuffled nervously, and bobbed their heads from side to side.

The Doctor watched them shrug and turned his attention back to the large female who had spoken, "I'm the Doctor and this is Rose," he nodded towards his companion, "We would like to see… your… leader?" He trailed off as the mob shifted angrily, all eyes on him.

"Actch! Preybeasts nottsapostah speaktalk! Takits toder King HubDub!"

Rose shot a worried look at the Doctor, he could only respond with a neutral face. This didn't sound good.

"Doctor?" she whispered as they were dragged off through the trees along a pulley system, "That didn't sound good, what are they plannin'?"

The befeathered female squawked indignantly, pulled out a tiny knife, and quickly stabbed Rose and the Doctor in turn.

They could barely utter a squeak before the world went fuzzy and black.

The Doctor had woken first. He again thanked his superior poison fighting system. His first thought was to check on Rose, he realized that he was hanging from a branch and that Rose was nearby. A quick sigh of relief left him as he noticed she was breathing steadily, it had just been some sort of knockout drug on the tip of that needle-like knife.

Closing his eyes to slits, he took a good look at his surroundings. They had been moved deeper into the forest and it was early morning by the look of the lighter sky. Darn, Rose would have loved to see this place at night, he thought. No, you have more important things to think about now, he reprimanded himself and set his mind to solving the problem of getting free and then down to the ground and back to his ship.

They seemed to be strung up in the middle of a village. The areas where the trunks branched off were filled with tents and shacks built of pelts and bleached bones. Slightly above them was the largest tree on the planet. Its trunk branched off into two huge tops, each as big around as the widest tree on earth. Between the enormous branches was a palace, of sorts. The walls were shoulder blades from an animal a bit larger than a Gallifreyan, and the entrance was an even larger skull of something that must have looked somewhat like an Earth crocodile, but it had two large holes in the upper jaw where huge fangs must have been. The bottom front teeth had also been pulled. The top of its head was adorned with hundreds of ornate feathers, some longer than the Doctor's arm, and all in an array of brilliant colors.

He guessed this was King HubDub's place.

Then he noticed the guard, and the guard noticed he was awake. He froze and stared. The guard used its clawed wings to grab and hoist itself on to a branch as it dropped closer to the Doctor, looking around nervously.

"Ihear youspeak?" it whispered in a female voice, looking at him intently.

He opened his mouth to respond, but was given an obvious warning glare and shake of the head. The guard looked around again before returning her focus to the Doctor.

He nodded.

She looked thoughtful for a moment, seemed to be mulling over some important decision. Then another of her kind, with a feather, emerged from a shack and looked towards the prisoners and the guard nonchalantly glided over to Rose, then back up to her original post. The Doctor shut his eyes as soon as he saw the other approach. He had seen what the guard was doing. He hoped it would work, and listened.

"Whyou socloseto darpresentcatch?" the male newcomer asked harshly.

"Justcheckingsir, theystwo sleepymuch. Princesspoisionknife muchaffective." She replied neutrally.

"Goodgood, Igogeta King now todecide."

The Doctor heard a light flapping of wings. That hadn't sounded good either. If the large female with the feathers and the knives was the princess, then the king was probably even worse.

Then Rose groaned into wakefulness and had started to get a response from the Doctor.

Which brings them back to the now.

Rose was startled when a loud voice broke her from her thoughts.

"IKingHubDub of HubbinDubbin! Areprisonerswakeyet?"

She swiveled around to get a better look at where the voice was coming from, and noticed the Doctor had opened his eyes and was staring as well. The King of these aliens was a sight to behold.

His size was one thing. He was nearly twice as big as his daughter but was in no way fat as you might expect a king to be. He was nearly pure pterosaur–like muscle from his neck down to his sharply curved talons. Atop the large head was an elaborate crown of feathers, even more beautiful than those at the entrance to his home. The crown continued to flow down his back and the whole headdress was completed with a necklace of claws from a variety of large animals. All in all, he didn't look very nice.

Now the Doctor was starting to really worry, he guessed that they had found an ally with their guard, but this King HubDub was going to be trouble.

HubDub addressed the growing crowd, "Nowletssee whatstado withda newthings hmm?" he ruffled his feathers and the crowd cheered, "Ibeesthinking prettyyellowthinfeathers lookgood oncrownyes?" More cheering.

It took a moment for the Doctor to get his meaning, "No!" he shouted. "Leave her alone!"

The crowd gasped, the king looked angry.

The guard swooped down and hit the Doctor over the head with her wing, hard. Then bent down to his ear and whispered, "Icanna getcha outaheres, helpyouescape, butyougotta playallong gottit? Bondsloose, waituntill sentencepassed, thenescape andrun. Megetfriendloose andmeetlater." Then she flew back up.

The king looked at her suspiciously, "Whaddayousay tocreaturething?"

"Metoldit shuddaup filthymouth."

"Thatnotta takesolong, whaddelse yousay?"

"Wordsnotkind toofilthysay infrontaroyalty." She bowed in respect.

The Doctor held back a laugh. She was good. He discreetly tested the ropes and they were indeed loose enough for him to wiggle free and drop to the nearby tree below him, now all he had to do was wait.

King HubDub laughed at her remark, content with the answer, and continued to pass his royal judgement.

"I'dlikes yellowfeathers forthecrown. Derbrownfeatherone notworth, justeatit. Myfamily getaeat deryellowone. Preparecookfires!" With the last bit, he flourished around to head back into his home.

The Doctor made his move. He shimmied around until the bonds loosened enough for him to slip through, and dropped right into the bushy blue leaves of the tree, making his way as quickly as possible towards the ground. He assumed that the guard would inform Rose to do the same.

Up above all hell broke loose. The creatures went into a mad frenzy of confusion. The guard landed on Rose's shoulder, she nearly screamed.

"Shushplease, Ihelpyou. Waitamoment." She drew her small dagger and yelled into the frenzy, "Dapreybeast gottaway! Gogetitback! Gogetitback! Iguardthishere! Gogettathatone! Watchout theremighta bemore!"

The last bit got the King and all the feathered ones to join the chase of the Doctor. The village grew silent as the majority of the warriors flew into the forest. Rose was left in bewilderment. Did the Doctor just ditch her? No, he couldn't have. Then she noticed the guard that had whispered to her earlier standing straighter on her shoulder looking proud.

Rose turned to face her as much as possible, "Why are you doin' this for us?"

"I not like KingHubDub," she said as one of the few remaining aliens started to work on loosening Rose's bonds, "Ithinks youand yourmate can helpus getrid ahim. Makeplace better yes?"

Rose nodded, "Yeah, we can help." She chose to ignore the comment on the doctor being her 'mate'.

Soon Rose was able to wiggle loose the same as the Doctor had, and descended the same tree. The guard stayed with her the entire time, balancing on her left shoulder.

"What's your name then?" Rose asked as she began to run awkwardly back towards the TARDIS in the low gravity, hoping that the Doctor knew enough to draw the angry aliens away from her.

"HudBud, yourname?"

"Rose."

Then Rose realized the connection between the alien's name and the name the Doctor had called the planet. They were once again meddling in someone's history. She grinned.

"Thatfunny?" HudBud looked a bit taken aback.

"No, not at all," Rose just shook her head, "it just reminded me of something fantastic."

HudBud looked confused, but stayed silent.

With only the sounds of her hard breathing and muffled footsteps, Rose realized something a little unnerving. She knew exactly where the TARDIS was. Knowing which direction she was in was something Rose had never been very good at, but even though she had blacked out earlier she could now tell in what direction and how far away the time ship was. Her eyes widened and she wracked her brain for the reason why, then stumbled upon a mental link she hadn't noticed before. She had long known that the TARDIS could get in her head, she did all the translating after all, but this was something more. It was a similar feeling to how she had felt the ship's feelings when she first came back, but it was a bit more solid of a presence, as if the TARDIS had sensed her fear and was trying to help guide her back.

Rose almost stopped running. Her mind was definitely not the same as it used to be. She realized that she had much stronger psychic abilities in ways beyond just putting up mental shields. This was getting a little freaky, but she had no time to stop and ponder the new circumstances, she had to save the Doctor. Rose ran on.

When they reached the blue ship, HudBud flew to the top of the Police Box sign and motioned quick directions to her followers whom Rose just now realized had been flying after them the whole way.

"Rose, myscout searchout yourfriend andseeif hecloseenough to callover. Yoube safe inabluething? Imustkill HubDub andallhis broodchicks, thisggoodplace forambush. Yougot goodweapon inside? Helpus?"

Rose brought her hand to her neck and started to panic. Her key was gone! They must have taken it while she and the Doctor had been out, what was she going to do? She took a deep breath to calm herself and turned to her new friend, "Yes, we'll be safe if we can get inside, and there's probably something that can be used as a weapon. Now hold on just a sec while I concentrate."

HudBud looked on in curiosity, as did a few of her lookouts, while Rose placed her hands against the TARDIS's doors.

She searched with her mind for that connection, when she found it the ship hummed happily in her mind. I missed you too, she thought, but you've gotta open the doors, I need to get in, please. She begged the ship with her mind over and over again hoping the TARDIS could even do what she was asking of her.

Click!

The door swung inwards and Rose cried out with joy. The alien standing guard across from the door of the blue box froze with shock and nearly fell off the branch when he saw what was through that door, but he regained his composure and sat silently with wide eyes.

Rose dashed in and HudBud followed her, also opening her eyes wide with shock, "Itbigger oninside." She exclaimed, perching on a strut.

"She sure is." Replied Rose.

Before HudBud could ask about the term 'she', her scout landed just outside the entrance and called in, "HudBud, creatureandking notfaroff, canprobablyshout andhear."

"Thankyou RuClud. Rosecall friendnow?"

Rose nodded and stuck her head out the door, "DOCTOR!" she hollered at the top of her lungs. Several of the pterosaur aliens flinched.

Then she listened.

"Coming Rose!"

It was faint, but it was him. She smiled and returned to rummage around the consol room for anything she might recognize as useful. Then she had an idea.

"Hey HudBud? D'you think you could have all your followers come in here as soon as the Doctor gets here? I have a plan, but I need all of you inside and the Doctor's help to implement it."

"Whatyoudo?"

"I'm thinking a large wave of sound at the right pitch should stun everything within a short range outside the TARDIS, but that means you lot have to be inside and the King and his lot have got to be outside."

"Okay." She seemed a little unsure of the idea, but was willing to do what the stranger had said, one look around the ship though convinced her that it was her best chance of defeating King HubDub. She went and called her friends inside, which they did a bit grudgingly. They were quite nervous of such advanced technology.

Meanwhile, the Doctor was trying his best to keep out of the reach of the army of flying people. They had lived their whole lives in the lower gravity, but his legs were used to being at around Earth's gravity and trying to move them at normal running speed was going to make him trip. Having to duck and dodge wasn't making it any easier.

He ran as fast as he could towards where he had heard Rose yell.

When he made it he found that the TARDIS door was wide open, so he rushed in and slammed it shut behind him.

"Allright Rose, we should probably get going… now." He slowed to a halt as he noticed a few dozen of the planet's inhabitants sitting around the railing looking at him expectantly. His eyes flickered to Rose over by the consol.

She shook her head, "Sorry Doctor, I promised them We'd help." She pointed to the only one on the consol, "Her name is HudBud Doctor, think about it. She can't defeat the King all by herself. We have to help."

The Doctor's eyes widened as he came to the same realization that Rose had several minutes ago.

"Yeah," Rose continued, "I though maybe the TARDIS could send out a sound wave to stun everyone outside so that HudBud's people can dethrone the King and like free all her people with as little killing as possible."

The Doctor grinned, "You're a genius Rose!" and he grabbed her and kissed her on the forehead. Then he scrambled under the consol to fidget for a few moments with his sonic screwdriver, leaving Rose slightly blushing. He hadn't done that in a long time.

Shoot. He thought. I probably shouldn't have done that. Stupid. I really hope that it's still within the rules. Then he thought of how nice it had been to smell her light perfume and shampoo and touch his lips to her skin. Bad thoughts. Bad. Busy, have to rewire the sound circuits, remember you stupid old man! He scolded himself and the TARDIS found it a good time to let loose a spark at his finger.

"Ouch! What was that for?"

HudBud and the others looked at him strangely.

"He likes to yell at his ship when he shocks himself." Rose gave as an explanation, hoping to keep the sanity of the much less technologically advanced people as well as appeasing the TARDIS. It seemed to work because her hand that was resting on the consol received no electrical input.

"Done!" the Doctor yelled as he jumped up from and tapped some things into his keyboard.

They all waited.

And waited.

The Doctor was the one to break the stillness by going to the door and opening it just enough to see out. "It worked."

"Scuseusthen Doctor," HudBud jumped to the floor and motioned for her followers to go out ahead of her, "Rose, Doctor, Thanksforhelp. Iwish you goodlife and manychildren. Youwelcome here anytime."

With that, she leaped out the door, leaving a very awkward situation behind.

The Doctor glanced at Rose, saw she had glanced at him, and decided his shoes were much more interesting. He rubbed nervously at his neck, trying to not think of the image of Rose being more than just a friend. He tried really hard to think of Dalek Sec instead. There that worked. He looked up.

"'Spose we should be going now yeah?" Rose asked, avoiding eye contact with the Doctor and looking away slightly.

Was that her blushing there for a minute? Oh man did he feel awkward now, he really was trying to just be like they used to be. Things like that used to happen all the time, so why was it any different now? Could she still laugh it off? Could he? He shook his head briefly to clear it.

"Yup! Where to next Rose Tyler!" He decided that moving on was the safest choice.

She smiled as he started up the engine, but then her smiled disappeared as the ship dematerialized.

"Doctor," her hand went to her throat, "I think I lost my key."

He let out a huge breath he didn't know he had been holding since she lost that smile. It was his turn to smile back, "I'll just have to get you a new one."

She smiled again, and the Doctor knew that everything would be all right between them. Even though they had never gotten to see the trees glow at night.


End file.
